OKLAHOMA CITY — Of all the Gregg Popovich pearls of wisdom throughout the years, the one most salient to his San Antonio Spurs system is unofficially known as "good to great."

It's not a complicated concept: great shots are better than good ones, so players must train themselves to make the extra pass without any regard for their own individual pursuits. The Spurs went from good to great yet again on Saturday night at the Chesapeake Energy Arena, winning Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals 112-107 in overtime against the Oklahoma City Thunder despite not having point guard Tony Parker for the second half.

Revenge against the Miami Heat may be theirs after all, as they will have the 2013 rematch they dreamed about in the Finals and with it the chance to end those infamous nightmares. The NBA Finals rematch is the first since 1998, when Michael Jordan's Chicago Bulls repeated over Karl Malone's Utah Jazz.

"We got four more to win. We'll do it this time," Spurs legend Tim Duncan declared on TNT after the finish.

Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Boris Diaw split the scoring duties in overtime, and the Spurs forced the Thunder into one of 11 shooting.

Diaw — so often mocked in the past for his pear-shaped physique — was huge in all the right ways in the closeout game. He had 26 points on eight of 14 shooting, and his presence continued to allow the Spurs to space the floor by bringing Thunder big man Serge Ibaka out on the perimeter.

"We ran some things for Manu, some things for Boris and some things for Timmy," Popovich said. "A lot of guys came through. ... Boris was fantastic all night long; he was really good on both ends of the court."

Duncan finished with 19 points and 15 rebounds, while San Antonio won despite shooting just 40.4% from the floor. The Thunder's dynamic duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook certainly turned in big games — 31 points, 14 rebounds for Durant and 34 points to go with eight assists and seven rebounds for Westbrook — but they had as many turnovers between them (14) as the Spurs had as a team.

When the Spurs announced that Parker would not return with an ankle injury, the news had the most curious of effects. Starting with the fans, then most certainly with the Thunder, the energy in the building seemed to wane.

With Parker's replacement, Cory Joseph, leading the way and everyone from Duncan to Ginobili to Danny Green to Tiago Splitter pitching in, San Antonio did the unthinkable: a 37-20 third quarter for the ages that was vintage Spurs in every which way.

Kawhi Leonard hit a jumper to start it all. Matt Bonner buried a three-pointer soon thereafter. The rest of them would pitch in from there, with the Thunder clearly breathing a sigh of relief that would lead to their undoing. And really, they should have seen this coming.

"That third quarter hurt us," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "That's the thing about this basketball team we're playing against. If you relax for two minutes, they can go on a 12-3 run."

Game 1 in San Antonio: Spurs 122, Thunder 105: Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant (35) falls to the floor and loses the ball surrounded by San Antonio defenders during the second half. (Photo: Soobum Im, USA TODAY Sports)

Game 1 in San Antonio: Spurs 122, Thunder 105 -- San Antonio forward Kawhi Leonard (2) put in a lay-up between a pair of Oklahoma City defenders during the second half. (Photo: Soobum Im, USA TODAY Sports)

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The fringe benefit of having a superstar-less system is that losing your star point guard isn't always the death knell it would be for other teams. Joseph, fittingly, had been lauded by Popovich after Game 4 when the coach pulled his starters and praised the way the third-year player competed until the very end.

"Everybody has to take the attitude of Cory Joseph," Popovich had said, "kind of a take-no-prisoners, bunker mentality."

The Thunder would have been wise to apply Popovich's advice in the third quarter, but they would eventually recover from the 79-69 deficit entering the fourth. A Serge Ibaka dunk midway through the fourth sparked the comeback, followed by a Russell Westbrook jumper and a Durant layup that was good-to-great in every way.

Reggie Jackson had an open three-pointer up top, but noticed Durant hiding all alone underneath the basket. He made the extra pass, Durant converted the easy basket, and the Thunder trailed 93-91.

A Ginobili three-pointer with 27 seconds gave the Spurs the lead they had briefly relinquished, with Duncan leveling Derek Fisher on the screen that created so much space. It was 100-99 San Antonio, Duncan was hugging Ginobili again, and it looked as if their work here was about to be done.

But a missed Ginobili free throw with 15 seconds left was the crack in the door the Thunder needed. Westbrook got past Green in the lane and was fouled as he drove, and his two free throws with nine seconds left would be enough to force the extra period.

The Spurs' latest path to the Finals was a reminder that the postseason is the ultimate hoops high-wire act, as they needed all seven games to survive the Dallas Mavericks in the first round and looked wholly beatable while doing it. Then came the X's and O's execution of the Portland Trail Blazers, with age and Popovich's system overwhelming the talented youths who were outclassed in five games.

Now, they get the chance to put those nightmares to bed after all.

The way it ended last June would have caused night frights for any team that lost that way, with the Spurs blowing a five-point lead with 28 seconds left in regulation of Game 6 before falling in overtime and eventually dropping Game 7. But the pain was even deeper for the Spurs because this was uncharted territory. They had won all four Finals they took part in — in five games against the New York Knicks in 1999; six vs. the New Jersey Nets in 2003; seven vs. the Detroit Pistons in 2005; and four vs. LeBron James and his Cleveland Cavaliers in 2007.

Now here come the Heat again. The two teams split their regular season matchups, with Miami winning 113-101 on Jan. 26 and the Spurs winning 111-87 on March 6.

"We worked eight months really hard," Ginobili said. "We had a very successful season. All we did was to get to this spot. ... We know we're facing a very tough, talented team, and it's going to be rough."

Game 2 in Miami: Heat 103, Spurs 84 - Miami Heat small forward LeBron James (6) dunks against the San Antonio Spurs during the fourth quarter of game two of the 2013 NBA Finals at the American Airlines Arena. (Photo: Derrick E. Hingle, USA TODAY Sports)

Game 1 in Miami: Spurs 92, Heat 88 --Miami Heat small forward LeBron James drives to the basket against San Antonio Spurs power forward Tim Duncan during the first quarter (Photo: Steve Mitchell, USA TODAY Sports)